PR & Marketing Lead

The Opportunity EQL Tech is partnering with a stealth, early-stage physical AI health startup (Palo Alto, team of roughly four) to bring on a Contract PR & Marketing Lead for a 1-3 month engagement. The company turns real-world sensor data, including wearables, ECG, and video, into clinical-grade health insight. Its founders have shipped FDA-cleared AI together before, paying enterprise customers are already live across two verticals, a major commercial partnership is in advanced discussions, and a seed round is set to close in Q3/Q4 2026. The technology is well ahead of the story. The website undersells it, the founders aren't yet visible online, and there is nothing press-ready for the announcements about to land. Closing that gap is the job. The Role You'll be this company's entire marketing and communications function for the length of the engagement: direct access to all three founders, near-total creative latitude, and no infrastructure or committee to navigate. Narrative: Reposition the website messaging so it says what the company does and why it matters. Founder visibility: Build the founders' LinkedIn presence into a credible, consistent channel. Presence: Establish the social cadence and voice for the company. Launch readiness: Prepare press and partner-facing materials so they're ready to go the moment the seed round and partnership news land. Legacy: Leave behind a playbook the team can run once the engagement ends. Seniority isn't measured in years here. What matters is a track record of taking a technical company from invisible to credible, and being able to show the work. Independent operator: Fractional CMO, ex-agency strategist, or startup marketing lead comfortable working without a brief. Proven transformation: A track record of taking a technical company from invisible to credible, with before/after work to point to. Exceptional writing: Able to translate clinical AI substance into language that buyers, journalists, and investors trust, without dumbing it down. Domain fluency: AI or health-tech fluency strongly preferred; genuine interest in the space essential. Self-directed execution: Comfortable shipping without a brief, given direct founder access and full creative latitude. Nice to have: prior fractional CMO or agency leadership experience; portfolio work in regulated or clinical spaces; existing relationships with health-tech or AI press. Bay Area preferred. Direct access: Work directly with all three founders, no committee or layers to navigate. Creative latitude: Near-total ownership of narrative and channel strategy. Portfolio-grade timing: Join at the exact inflection point, pre-seed-announcement and pre-partnership-news, where positioning work is visibly causal. Extension potential: Realistic scope to continue the engagement as the company scales past its raise. Remote - Marketing & Communications - Contract